Do No Harm
by xXshadrouge291xX
Summary: Shadow the Hedgehog, a young doctor with a heart of gold, is faced with a lot of challenges in the medical field under his father's watchful eye. However, after experiencing situations beyond his control, things began to torment him enough to hinder him from doing his duties until he encountered a life-changing case... (AU Fanfiction)
1. The Hippocratic Oath

**Do No Harm**

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 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, SEGA and Archie comics does.**

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 _...If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But_ _it may also be within my power to take a life; this responsibility must be faced with great humbleness_ _and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God._

 _I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick._

 _I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure._

 _I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body, as well as the infirm._

 _If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection hereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help._

 _ **-From the actual revised Hippocratic Oath by Louis Lasagna.**_

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 **(Shadow's POV)**

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The Hippocratic Oath, the oath that every physician has to take into good earnest before practicing the art of medicine. From the moment I raised my hand to recite that oath, I have committed myself to dedicate my life in promoting, maintaining and restoring health for as long as I live.

Most people think about the Hippocratic Oath whenever the principle: 'Do no Harm' is mentioned but when you look at it in a closer perspective, that word was never mentioned in the oath all. It became a huge misconception ever since but one thing is for sure, whether it's part of the oath or not, both ironically express a similar idea: that we should not do harm at all costs like one of the principles of bioethics that states: "It's better not to do something than to risk causing more harm than good."

But in this modern society, that principle may be less practical than what we might think.

Hippocrates, the father of Medicine, proposed the idea that doctors shouldn't harm their patients no matter what the circumstances are and most people find that idea actually quite appealing. However, if we think about it in a literal sense, most patients wouldn't even last a day in the hospital if we follow that principle.

Surgeries wouldn't be recommended, medicines wouldn't be prescribed, blood extractions would be prohibited, and biopsies as well as chemotherapies would be banned from the hospital. To put it simply, none of those medical procedures would be performed no matter how vital they are to diagnose or treat a patient. Why? Recommending these tests or treatments can cause harm to the patient despite the benefits outweighing the risks involved.

Like for instance, if I surgically remove a diseased part of an organ from a patient, despite the procedure being therapeutic, cutting a patient is considered as 'doing harm' and it literally violates Hippocrates' principle.

Which brings me to question: Is it really necessary to follow that principle?

My name is Shadow the Hedgehog and I am proud to call myself a physician as well as adding the suffix "M.D." at the end of my name as well as bearing the symbolic white coat.

The White Coat. It has remained a symbol of medical authority for years. Ask anyone what a doctor looks like and they would describe it to you as a person wearing a white coat and a stethoscope. But nowadays, not all doctors wear it like pediatricians and psychiatrists, for instance. Some people find the white color intimidating enough that they develop fear just a mere sight of it, especially children.

But for us doctors and other health care professionals, we symbolize the white color as a standard of professionalism, hope and the symbol of a healer.

They say that being in the field of medicine is a noble profession. People look up to you like you are some sort of 'miracle worker' whenever they see you along the corridors wearing a white coat, however, being a doctor is not all about the title. In fact, having the privilege to wear a white coat is not exactly like playing a game of dress-up and pretend. Earning the privilege to wear one is a very challenging task but in the end, all of the blood and sweat that were shed during those times were all worth it.

Once you wear that coat, that's where the true responsibilities begin. Say goodbye to those childhood fantasies of being a successful doctor who could treat everyone by just using a mini doctor kit and a toy syringe on a presumably sick teddy bear or stuffed animal because in reality, it's a lot messier and more complicated than it sounds.

Hearing mostly about patient complaints like chest pains, abdominal pains, difficulty in breathing as well as being exposed to communicable diseases, blood, amniotic fluid, pus, bile, vomitus, and all of the things that most people would cringe at the sight or the thought of getting in contact with, I could honestly say that this job isn't for everyone.

If we make mistakes, patients die, if we don't take risks, patients also die. We're mostly faced with matters regarding life or death.

Being in the medical field, taking risks is a part of our everyday lives. From a simple diagnosis, to a prescription of drugs, and even to a major surgical operation. A diagnosis isn't always accurate, drugs won't always guarantee a hundred percent recovery and surgeries don't always yield a successful result.

Even if we dedicated our lives to help people, once in our life, some decisions must be made that could sometimes harm the patients in order to save their lives. It cannot be avoided just as we cannot avoid death.

Most say that being a doctor is all about saving lives, but for me, being a doctor is not just all about healing the sick or saving lives, rather, it's also about the patients that you encounter in your everyday life.

A simple thank you from an elderly patient for giving her a daily dose of her pain medications, a child that smiled after being given a lollipop after injecting him his annual vaccine, the first cry heard from a newborn baby being delivered and telling the family that the delivery has been successful; all of the feelings felt in these situations aren't written and cannot be learned in the textbooks but in the field.

Those were the most fascinating things I've learned in my experience here.

"Doctor, the patient from bed no. 1 is asking if he can go home now," one of the nurses on duty called my attention.

"Inform him that he is still under observation. Until his blood pressure has become stable, he's staying for a while," I responded.

"Yes, doctor," were the nurse's response as she left.

Right now, I am currently on duty in Mobius General Hospital and I've been assigned to the Emergency room. Frankly, I've been working in this hospital for 12 hours now with nothing but caffeine as my best companion to keep me awake all throughout my shift. Sleep is becoming a stranger to me now and I could only enjoy it for a few hours in my life before my pager starts beeping again or if somebody pages me in this establishment.

I've been scanning the patients' vital signs monitoring sheet before proceeding to do my rounds.

So far, we only have three patients here in the emergency room. The first one has suffered from an allergic reaction due to an insect bite, the second one had an asthma attack and the third one had sudden chest pains after doing a little work out and is currently under observation.

Mobius General is starting to become literally my home for spending most of my time here as I continued to fulfill my duties as a physician.

My late great grandfather, my grandfather, my father, my uncle; almost all of the male hedgehogs on my father's side of the family pursued a medical field except for my mother's side since they are more inclined on the business field.

Being in the family of mostly doctors, some people think that I only wanted to become a doctor merely because of following the tradition but for me, it is an innate desire to become one.

In fact, most of my seniors and colleagues often praise my skills and my ability to work under pressure. Not to mention, I have an outstanding performance before in medical school as well as earning a spot on the top-notcher list in the Mobius Medical Licensing Examination (MMLE).

A lot of people have acknowledged my skills and performance except for one hedgehog in particular: my father.

My father is the Head of the Cardiology Department in Mobius General and has always been observing and criticizing my every move ever since I started working at the same hospital where he works at. He's observing me like he's monitoring an electrocardiogram, a device used to record a heart's electrical activity. If he finds something wrong or something that doesn't please him, he deliberately intervenes, disrupting my flow of work or in some occasions, he makes decisions for me like mine didn't matter.

It doesn't surprise me anymore. In fact, my father and I are very different individuals.

My calm and lenient behavior literally clashes with his stern, aggressive and principle-based one. While my focus is mostly for the good of the patients, my father tends to ignore that factor as long as the problem is taken care of.

To put it simply, the patients' feelings doesn't seem to matter to him as long as the problem is addressed. He's treating everything like a medical textbook and only sees the patients as mere bodies with diseases instead of a living and breathing individual with feelings.

I find it ironic how he managed to become a cardiologist with such a cold heart because for me, skills alone does not define a doctor.

But my father, he's driven with the belief that it's unnecessary to involve your feelings when treating people because it would only affect your efficiency at work.

I suddenly heard the double doors of the ER bursting and find a couple of paramedics wheeling in a stretcher with an unconscious male bat in it.

"55 year old male bat simply eating dinner with the family suddenly had difficulty in breathing. Relatives thought he was choking until he was seen grasping his chest firmly before falling into the floor. Patient was unresponsive upon our arrival. Pulse and Breathing were negative so we immediately initiated CPR and produced a pulse. We are able to establish a line and started a lidocaine drip. Patient has been unconscious since the arrest. Blood pressure is 60/44, heart rate is 56 and irregular. He's intubated and the current pulse oximetry is 90 percent. Patient has a history of hypertension 4 years earlier and a heart attack 1 year ago according to the wife. No drug allergies reported."

The nurses on duty urged them to put the patient to the treatment room while I immediately went towards them to help transfer the patient from the stretcher to the table.

"Injecting Atropine," I said as I injected a medication to increase the heart rate since it is dangerously low then we started the patient on blood thinners and beta blockers as prophylactic measures.

"Is my husband alright?" a feminine voice spoke in bursts of panic but the attendants tried to keep her calm.

"It's okay, ma'm we'll do everything we can," I briefly turned towards her then I proceeded to attend to the patient until I felt someone's hand gently tugging my own.

As I turned around, I saw a female bat with teal eyes who is probably in her early 20's and she was looking at me with pleading eyes. From the looks of it, she seems to be the daughter of the patient.

"Please doctor, don't let my father die…please…I'm begging you, do what it takes to save him…" she calmly told me while on the verge of tears then she slowly fell on her knees.

"Please, doctor," she said, clutching the cloth on my pants.

I was slightly taken aback at the behavior she was demonstrating because of all the years being on duty, I have never experienced a relative of a patient clutching onto me to plead for a family member's life like this before.

Truth to be told, not all doctors experience a case like this and it just so happens that I am "fortunate" enough to be on duty on a time like this.

 _She must have loved her father so much for her to be this desperate enough to plead._

"I…uh…" I couldn't find the words to say but I quickly managed to help her stand back on her feet.

"It's alright, miss. I…I'll do what it takes to save your father," I reassured but something inside me felt uneasy when I let those words slip from me because knowing about her father's history, there's a huge chance that I won't be able to keep such a promise.

His life is literally already hanging on a thread.

"…please, doctor," I heard her murmured once again.

"Miss, you'll see your father again. Keep it together, alright?" I placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at her straight in the eye to convince her that I am sincere with my words.

After my final attempt to reassure her, I quickly made my way to attend the patient while that bat girl's face and words still lingered into my mind as if her words are going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

' _You should never allow your feelings to rule over you during an emergency situation.'_

That is what most of my seniors would often warn me about; especially my father since he knows my tendency to get emotional in times like these because I share most of that personality from my mother.

Now that part of me is being put to the test. I guess I just had to keep my emotions at bay at all times so it wouldn't affect my performance.

Upon examination, I noticed that the patient's complexion was pale with an evidence of heavy sweating. The current blood pressure is quite low and the pulse rate is irregular. No jugular vein distention noted and no edema.

It wasn't a pretty good sight. Something tells me that this patient has gone through a lot of pain before falling into the ground, unconscious.

I used my stethoscope to assess his heart sounds. At first, all I heard were normal heart sounds but I turned the patient to his side to assess further. Normally, a heartbeat only has two distinctive sounds but the patient has a barely audible galloping heart sound that can be heard mostly in patients after a heart attack.

We immediately hooked the patient on the electrocardiogram while some of the medical staff took the patient's vitals.

I focused my eyes on the monitor and I see a normal rhythm as of now but looking closer, I could have sworn that I saw an ST segment elevation. An ST elevation is an indicator that a myocardial infarction, or commonly known as heart attack in layman's term, has occurred so I immediately took appropriate action and started the patient on oxygen therapy at 6 liters per minute to keep the patient's oxygen saturation level above 95 percent.

STEMI or ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction is the irreversible death of a heart tissue due to the lack of oxygen because of a blockage in the blood vessels of the heart and it's often a fatal condition especially if left untreated. It's always important to note that the quicker the blockage is removed, the less likely for the heart muscles to be damaged.

The family made the right decision to call for medical assistance immediately. Otherwise, the patient would have died on the spot.

I was making records of the patient's EKG readings to send it to a cardiologist later on for further assessments when all of a sudden, the EKG monitor starts beeping uncontrollably.

I looked back and saw that the monitor indicates that the patient is suffering from Ventricular fibrillation or V-fib. V-fib is a case where the heart is said to be 'quivering' and it's no longer pumping blood properly as it should. This is one of the deadly rhythms that most doctors fear the most since the patient would most likely go into cardiac arrest if proper action was not taken immediately.

Patients undergoing V-fib requires shocking the patient using a defibrillator in order to temporary stop the heart so it would stop from fibrillating and possibly return to its normal rhythm. Defibrillation is similar to pushing a reset button like we do on machines and computers.

"Call the code!" I commanded and the other hospital staff on duty quickly went towards me bringing along the Emergency cart and the defibrillator.

As the curtains were closed, the attendants quickly established an airway as I quickly injected the patient 1 mg of epinephrine to increase coronary perfusion then we prepared the patient for defibrillation.

"Charging at 200 Joules" I said then I positioned the paddles on the patient's chest. After making sure that no one is touching the patient, I did what I had to do.

"And Clear!" I called out then I shocked the patient by pressing the buttons on the paddles.

I checked the patient and the monitors but there was no change noted, the patient is still in V-fib so I attempted to shock again.

"Let's go again. Charging at 200 Joules," I said as I looked around me once again and after seeing that it's alright to deliver another shock, I proceeded to defibrillate.

"Clear!" I pushed the paddles into the patient's chest but instead of fixing the problem, the monitors showed a flat line which made me promptly check for the patient's vitals as well as making sure that the wires of the EKG that are connected to his chest aren't disrupted or disconnected.

Unfortunately, all of the wires are still intact and the patient ceased breathing. His pulse isn't palpable as well which made me conclude that the patient went into a cardiac arrest. His heart has completely stopped beating.

' _Damn!'_ I cursed inside me then I immediately took the defibrillator paddles away and initiated Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) while the attendants used an AMBU bag to provide artificial respiration as I do chest compressions.

Two minutes have passed and we checked the patient's vitals once again. Still a flat line, negative breathing and pulse so we did the same routine again, doing CPR while giving artificial respiration through an AMBU bag but the patient's condition didn't change no matter what we do.

' _You can't die on me…Please, don't. You have to live! I promised your daughter that I'd save you.'_

To be honest, I have never encountered a dying patient before while on duty. More often, I only hear reports of patients dying on a particular shift during endorsements and it devastated me that I have to be faced with someone who's on the verge of it for the first time right here in the Emergency Room.

My sweat trickled down my forehead and I could almost feel tears in my eyes forming at the thought of not being able to save this patient because I know at the back of my head that there's a very slim chance that he would survive.

 _Come on, live!_

But the promise I made to his family kept me motivated enough to carry on because I never break promises.

It seems as though time has stopped temporarily and I found myself staring at the monitor and at my patient's face.

Judging from the male bat's appearance alone, he seems to be a nice man, and a caring father and I could imagine him spending most of his time being with his family.

Who knew that the family dinner they had would end up in a tragedy such as this?

I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts and tried to communicate with my patient.

"Your family needs you, sir! Come back to us.," I called out to him. My compressions are getting stronger and deeper compared before as desperation took over me.

But still, nothing has changed. The patient is still not breathing and he still has no palpable pulse.

"Drop 40 units of vasopressin and stat!"

That's when I saw my father entering the scene with his piercing gaze staring at me as I continued to attempt saving my patient's life.

I saw him taking a glance on his watch then he shifted his gaze back to me.

"Shadow," I heard his deep voice calling out to me but I decided to ignore him and kept on resuscitating the patient despite feeling tired already.

I never gave up. I know I can save him.

"Shadow!" his loud voice made me turn my head towards his direction without ceasing my actions.

"It's been three minutes already since Cardiac arrest. It's too late to save him. Call it…" he simply said that made the complexion on my face turn pale. He wanted me to announce that my patient is already dead and it enraged me because I know I could still save him.

It only takes three to four minutes to consider an irreversible brain damage from the lack of oxygen supply to the brain and as much as I wanted to believe him, a part of me wanted to disregard that fact.

I saw one of the attendants slowly letting go of the AMBU bag when I sharply glared at him.

"Don't even think about stopping. I'm the doctor here! We'll continue resuscitating the patient!" I warned fiercely that made him quickly continue pushing on the bag.

I simply ignored my father again and continued but I was suddenly halted when he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"It's pointless to go further, son. You and I know that well. Just call it now!"

I shook my head in disagreement. I can't stop now. Not after promising his family that I would make them see him again.

"No. I can still save him!" I snapped back. That's when I felt the tears that I've been holding trickling down on my muzzles as I gritted my teeth in desperation.

My father's lower lip curled at the sight.

"I thought I told you before to never let your emotions get in the way of your job. You are a doctor and not a miracle worker! You can't save everyone! Just accept the fact, Shadow. Call it," my father continued to convince me to give it up and let the patient go.

But I just couldn't do it because I am determined to save him. If I stop now, it would be just like allowing this patient to die.

Hippocrates' principle of 'Do No Harm' suggests that we should not do anything that's harmful for the patient but in an event that you were given a choice, would you still hold on to that principle in order to save a life or just disregard it so the patient could die a peaceful death instead of letting him suffer more by keeping him alive?

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 **A/N: W** **ould Shadow continue despite his father's protests?**

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 **For those who have read and followed my first story called "The Crimson Affair," you might notice that there are some characters in that story that may appear on this one. So it's like an Easter egg for those who have read it since this is set in an alternate universe of that story.**

 **For those who haven't read that story I mentioned, don't worry. You don't have to read that story in order to understand this one. But if you're interested, you can check it out, too.**

 **This is an experimental fanfiction that has a medical theme.**

 **I apologize for some mistakes. I am not a med student nor a health care professional but I did some research in order to make this story possible since I got inspired by some friends in Deviantart to attempt this kind of theme. Not only that, I got quite an interest in the medical field after watching a lot of medical dramas so it literally sealed my interest to work on this one.**

 **I hope you like it.**


	2. Asystole

**Do No Harm Chapter 2**

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 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, SEGA and Archie comics does. Sorry for the long update. Thank you so much guys for the support all throughout the chapters. You guys rock!**

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 **(Shadow's POV)**

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As much as I want to listen to my father and just end my patient's misery, the thought of this man's family kept plaguing my mind as though they are silently hoping for him to be saved at this rate.

Sweat dribbled down my forehead, my arms are starting to ache from all of the chest compressions I've been doing, and my eyeglasses are already stained with the tears that are constantly flowing from my eyes.

It's already been three minutes and there's still no response from the patient nor was he demonstrating any signs of life. Three minutes may have passed but I am still holding on because during our "Mock Code Training" when I was still in Medical school, our instructor told us that the sooner you start CPR at the very moment the patient goes into cardiac arrest, it literally stretches the critical three to four minute time frame into six to eight minutes before a patient undergoes irreversible brain damage.

That fact alone is enough to give me a few moments of hope.

Truth to be told, whenever a patient loses his or her heartbeat, us doctors would agree that they are already clinically 'dead' but not all of them would stay dead because there are chances that we could still bring them back and thus, the common misconception of "Doctors are miracle workers" is born.

As my father implied, I can't save them all but that doesn't mean that I should just give up, especially if there are still ways to bring him back.

Reviving the clinically dead is a very chaotic and yet controlled scene. We have been trained to be ready for these type of situations. There really is no 'I' in Team when it comes to saving lives. Like most of my superiors always say: It takes a village to save a life. However, no matter how we have prepared ourselves before being exposed into the field, learning how to control one's emotions during a code isn't something that could be taught. It takes a great deal of experience to be numb enough to face these life or death situations. This is one of the burdens that a medical personnel has to carry on his shoulders in order to fulfill their duties as a health care professional.

As much as I'm trying to avoid getting attached to my patients, I couldn't help but feel a connection with them like I have already known them for a long time even if it's only for a brief moment. Most doctors learned how to control their emotions because it gets in the way of their duties but for me, I still have a long way to go to keep these unwanted emotions at bay.

At the current moment, my emotions are piling up inside me. It's becoming more difficult to contain it no matter what I do. I admit that I wasn't emotionally prepared to handle a case like this but I was left with no other choice but to face this awful reality before me.

The thought of this man's family anxiously waiting outside the waiting area, the surrounding medical staff either keeping the family calm or assisting in resuscitating the patient, my father telling me to declare that the patient has died; the pressure is too much to handle that I'm starting to feel like I'm losing to a battle.

I hate it. I hate it so much because I know that deep down, the patient is still fighting to survive to see his family once again.

Some people believe that miracles exist while some don't. Frankly, I am quite on the neutral side between those two beliefs but right now, I am begging for a miracle to happen.

Hinting from my father's expression that he has already ran out of patience, he asked a couple of orderlies and nurses to pull me away from the patient.

"Let me go, damn it!" I yelled as I tried to free myself from their grip.

My first attempt was successful but the second time they took a hold of me, I wasn't able to get myself free which only made me even more frustrated than before, especially at the thought of my father taking control of the current situation.

 _Why are they listening to him? Why can't they trust my judgment?_

Clock is ticking so fast, it was getting away from my grasp. I panicked at the thought because every second spent away from my patient made my dimly-lit hope gradually lose its light.

"Shadow, keep your chin up and face the fact!" my father scolded and probably infuriated at the weakness I'm showing before him. "I did not raise you to be a weakling. You're much better than that."

For some reason, my father's last statement sent a pinch on my chest. I could feel my pride getting crushed and he's intentionally stepping on the pieces just to make me feel even more humiliated with myself.

"He could still be saved. Letting him die is just like committing murder!"

"It's far from murder, Shadow. We're not trying to kill this patient because it's already his time. We're trying not toact like gods and defy the principles of life and death, for chaos' sake! There's a limit to our profession, we can't cheat death!"

"Please…Just let me try once more. I could bring him back." Rendered with no other choice, I swallowed what's left of my pride and pleaded because none of them were listening to me anymore.

"Enough, Shadow. You've done everything you could and you're probably exhausted. Let your patient go, it's his time."

The world seem to crash down before me. I don't know what else to do and being restrained like this didn't help in keeping myself under control, either. It's only making me feel terrible.

"He's not gone yet!" I suddenly felt my strength go back upon hearing my father's remarks. It was a bluff, just enough for him to reconsider what he's trying to make me do.

"That's outrageous."

"Go and see for yourself! He's still fighting for his life and as long as the patient is still fighting, we should fight alongside him!"

The cold look on my father's face never left him. Clearly, a hint of disappointment is evident from his gaze from the behavior I'm demonstrating. I'm making a fool of myself for believing in miracles; that my patient would suddenly rise back from the dead.

"I could clearly comprehend your dedication to this profession but don't make this matter more difficult, Shadow."

My father went towards the patient and palpated for any signs of pulse, then he took his stethoscope out and listened to the patient's chest.

His fierce gaze never left his face all throughout the assessment. It was his ideal behavior of a doctor; keeping a calm demeanor in a chaotic and heartbreaking situation.

I could almost feel every vital organ inside me shut down the moment I saw him pull his sleeves up to check on the time.

 _He's going to call it. Chaos…I'm sorry, I tried._

I could only watch in horror as my father prepared to announce that the patient didn't make it.

"Time of death, 8:45 pm." My father simply said and ordered one of the nurses to do some post-mortem care.

The other staff started cleaning the place while the others went back to their positions like it was just an ordinary case that failed and it's nothing to be worried about.

I felt the world slowed down, the voices around me suddenly became inaudible but I could still hear the sound of the flat line filling my ears. I was still petrified on the spot where I stood. I didn't even notice that the staff who were holding me before already released me from their grip.

 _It was just heart-breaking. It wasn't his time yet and I let him go. What have I done?_

"Shadow T. Hedgehog!" I jumped at the sound of my father calling my name out loud. That's when I felt that my muzzles were already damp with the tears that must have been streaming as I watch my father announcing my patient's death.

I quickly got my composure back and took my glasses off to wipe the tears from my eyes as quickly as I could before wearing them back again. I feel so wrecked. It's like I've completely let my emotions compromise me enough to make me regret ever being the doctor on duty at the current moment. To make matters worse, it was my father who took over the situation which is why he's giving me that piercing look on his face.

I saw him sigh before me then he gently shook his head, hinting disappointment with my actions.

"I'm deliberately disappointed in you for bursting out into an emotional fit. You attach yourself with your patients too much that it has crippled you. Hopefully, there won't be another code in your shift but the next time, God forbid, another code happens, I expect that you would completely purge your emotions so as to not let it hinder you on your duties. You may be a doctor but you can't call yourself one unless you're ready to face death before your eyes. As I said before, we can't save everyone."

I didn't bother looking at him but my ears became the frontline of hearing him pointing out my mistakes.

His words didn't matter to me anymore as I found myself staring at the patient behind him while muttering a silent apology at how devastated I am to betray the trust of his family, especially his daughter who clearly heard those promising words escaping my mouth.

I sighed deeply before letting out an angry outburst. "I promised his family that I would save him and I wanted to keep my word until you decided to interfere!"

My father gritted his teeth at my response. "You foolish boy…We should never make promises to our patients. Never! It's the biggest mistake a doctor could make. Medicine is full of uncertainty. Sometimes, even treatments that were deemed successful are bound to fail. We can't always guarantee that we would save them and I am clearly aware that you know that."

I was left speechless. As much as I hate to admit it, it was indeed a mistake to make promises in the medical field. It's the most common mistake doctors make. Perhaps I was just desperate to save a life or maybe because I felt sorry for his daughter that forced me to commit such a mistake.

Things had become more complicated for me when he ordered me to bring the news to the family.

"What?" the word unconsciously slipped from my mouth upon hearing his orders.

"Tell the family what happened. It's your responsibility to let them know. Don't disappoint me again." He sternly told me as he made his way out of the emergency department without saying another word.

My feet got stuck into the ground. I couldn't move nor even speak as the thought of breaking the news to the family crippled me even further.

 _This shouldn't be done by me. No, not me. Chaos, why do I have to go through with this?_

Gathering my strength, I made my way towards the family of the patient as I did my best to mask my current feelings with a straight face.

I was met with the sight of my deceased patient's daughter sitting on the waiting area with her eyes on the floor while a copper-furred, male bat who's also in his early twenties wearing a dark suit was comforting her by gently rubbing her shoulders. The patient's wife was busy talking with a copper furred, middle-aged male bat who wore a dark navy blue suit.

"Doctor, how was my father?" were the first words the daughter said the moment she caught sight of me. She quickly stood from the waiting area and walked towards me. The wife and the two male bats followed afterwards.

"Is my husband alright?" said the female bat.

"What happened, doctor?" added the older male bat.

I was plagued with a lot of questions; questions that I find difficult to answer after what happened. The pressure is too much to bear and it's making me feel paralyzed once again but I tried to keep myself together by doing what my father wants me to do; deliver the news in the absence of my emotions.

"The…the patient…" I took a deep breath to compose myself.

For some reason, I couldn't look straight into his daughter's face without feeling a sense of guilt because it reminded me so much of the patient that I couldn't save. If it weren't for her snow-white fur and tan muzzles, she would have been the female version of her father.

"Doctor, you seem disturbed." She walked a few steps closer to me, "Is it bad news?" upon saying those last words, I saw a single tear streamed down her muzzles. "Is it?" she asked once again.

"The situation was under control but…" my voice began to fade away and I found myself closing my eyes and drooping my head in defeat.

"But what?" I heard the wife exclaimed as she tries to control her sobs.

"I'm sorry…" my guilt-filled voice trembled as I tried to keep myself strong in all of this. "I…did my best..."

I heard a couple of gasps then the next thing I know, the waiting room suddenly felt gloomy from the grief-stricken people that surrounded it. The wife, unable to take the pressure, was led to the waiting benches so she could sit down while being comforted by the older male bat but the daughter still stood before me, petrified.

"Tell me that's not true!" the daughter's voice startled me enough to shoot a glance at her. Her once sorrowful face was now filled with burning contempt. "Tell me, he's still alive, right?"

"Rouge, your father is gone…" the younger male bat spoke as he tried to pull her away from me but she did her best to get away from his grasp. "No! I won't believe it!"

"But the doctor said-"

"That's not true!" she glared at me with her muzzles stained from her tears. "Doctor, please tell me he's okay. You promised. You told me that you'd save him."

"I'm sorry, I swear I did everything I could but your father didn't make it…" were the last words I was able to blurt out before the girl stormed out of the place with tears in her eyes.

I was left speechless and that's where I felt the guilt inside me overflowing.

 _I shouldn't have stopped…I could have saved him…_

"Rouge!" the male brown bat went after her leaving me with the mother and the older male bat.

"Don't mind her, doctor. We know you did your best…" said the older male bat as he continued comforting the patient's wife.

I kindly excused myself then I turned away from them and quickly made my way out of the scene but as I walked farther, the more I felt myself slowly breaking down. I felt a tear escaped my lids, then that single tear was followed by another until I found myself completely sobbing in defeat.

I found myself later on sitting just beside the nurses' station. My eyeglasses, my white coat, my pen light, my blue pen, as well as my stethoscope and ID were scattered on the floor.

' _You can't save everyone!'_

' _Let him go.'_

' _You told me that you'd save him…'_

These words kept pushing me down until I could no longer breathe because I've already lost the strength to carry these burdens.

Funny how failure could sometimes reduce your worth into something unbelievably smaller than a microbe.

My hands covered my face as I freely let my tears flow. Pain, grief and regret filled me completely and I didn't know what else to do. I feel like everything was just taken from me when I allowed that patient to die on that table.

The way his family reacted at the news sent a pinch to my heart and that man's daughter…I couldn't get her out of my mind. I feel like I have betrayed her by making that promise and now she's probably hating my whole existence.

Even though I hate to admit it, my father was right. This is what I deserve by making that grave mistake of making promises that I can't keep. This is why doctors shouldn't keep promises at all.

"Doctor?"

All of a sudden, I heard a feminine voice called my attention. Looking towards the sound of the voice, I saw a female, middle-aged, lavender echidna with dark purple eyes standing before me with her gentle gaze.

It was the head nurse, Lara-Le. She is one of the superior nurses who had always believed in my capabilities ever since I started working in this hospital. She's like a mother and a mentor to me and I respected her more than my father in this institution.

"Yes, Head nurse Lara-Le?" I calmly said as I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes.

"You did your best." She gently smiled at me as she put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I am so proud of what you've done."

I gave her a barely visibly smile then that smile immediately turned upside down as I was reminded of my failures.

"No…it wasn't my best…" I swallowed hard. "I failed. I'm a complete failure. I don't deserve that white coat. I can't even save one patient."

Another tear attempted to make its way towards my muzzles once again but I immediately wiped it away with the back of my hand.

I heard Head nurse Lara stifle a giggle. She must have seen me stubbornly trying to dry my tears away.

"Don't be hesitant in showing your emotions, doctor," she said in amusement. "That means that you have a caring heart and it's not something that you should be ashamed of. Of all the doctors I've met here, you're one of the few who I think truly deserves that white coat." I saw her picking up the things I've thrown, including my white coat.

"Not a lot of doctors could demonstrate such feelings like you did back there during that code. Most doctors would just let the patient go without doing so much which is why I'm really proud of you for fighting for your patient's life until the end."

"Here are your things, doctor." She then placed all of those things I've thrown on a chair just beside me. "Don't lose hope now. Patients need doctors like you."

She left after that and I was left on my own once again.

I just sighed in response at her encouraging words. As much as I appreciate her help, I still couldn't comprehend how I'm feeling right now. I still feel like I've done something unforgivable. It's like I just want to disappear from this establishment for good.

Seeing that my shift is almost over, I took my things and made my way towards the locker rooms so I could keep them there then I walked around the hospital grounds like a free man; discreetly blending along with the people around me.

I decided to do a quick visit on the 7th floor where the Maternity and Pediatric wards are located.

I made my way to the Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and inside, I saw a dark furred hedgehog with upturned quills wearing light blue scrubs with a mask on his muzzles walking around the area with a couple of nurses wearing the same scrubs trailing behind him.

It was my uncle doing his clinical rounds.

My uncle specializes in Neonatology, a subspecialty in pediatrics responsible for taking care of newborn babies, especially those that are born ill or premature. He has always been interested in taking care of babies and children. His passion and dedication to his work is evident from the way he's handling things in the ward.

A smile peeked at the corner of my lips as I saw him assessing some tiny premature mobian infants in an incubator that could barely move because of the contraptions they have in order to survive. Some are even in a mechanical ventilator for they are unable to breathe for themselves.

Seeing these babies fighting for their lives at a very young age are truly heartbreaking but seeing how well they are being taken care of, I could say that I am quite relieved at the same time.

"Oh hello there, kiddo. Wow, you're tolerating that parenteral nutrition well. That's good." His gentle voice said as his gloved finger gently patted the mobian infant's leg that's almost as thin as that of an index finger because of the lack of body fat. "Your mommy and daddy would be very happy to see you soon."

I saw him walking to another nearby incubator while the he checked the flow of the fluids as well as the monitors attached to the infant.

"Baby boy Gordon," he said as he checked for the tiny mobian baby's vitals chart, "Looks good. Well, this kid is going to grow up to be the next legendary football player in Mobius sometime in the future like his father. I hope I'd still be around to ask his autograph one day," he said that made most of the nurses chuckle in response.

I feel somehow enlightened seeing my uncle breathe some hope into these infants that only have a 50/50 chance of survival or even less.

Seeing my Uncle flawlessly doing his job somehow made me feel good inside. He's the complete opposite of my father. Outgoing, lively, and would always put his patients first before anything else.

I hope someday, I would be able to perform my duties flawlessly like he does.

* * *

 **A/N: Chapter 2 finished :D Again, sorry for the very long update. I had a hard time on one of the scenes here so I had to rewrite most of it and finally, it's done. XD ahahah! I hope you like this chapter. Now I'm off to update "The Crimson Affair"**

* * *

 **I would like to thank the following for the awesome story reviews on the debut Chapter of this ffic (^-^):**

 **SonadowStories**

 **jessicashadow**

 **TheOddDuck**

 **KrispinaTheDerp**


	3. Grace Under Pressure

**Do No Harm Chapter 3**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, SEGA and Archie comics does. Sorry for the long update. Thank you so much guys for the support all throughout the chapters. You guys rock!**

* * *

 **(Shadow's POV)**

* * *

When my uncle finished his rounds at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), he caught my eye just as he was about to make his way towards the nurse's station.

"Hey Shadster," my uncle greeted in his usual cheerful expression the moment he noticed my presence and walked over towards me. "Shift's finally over?"

I merely nodded and heaved a heavy sigh as I did my best to avoid his gaze.

"Well now, you seem distraught and your eyes are quite red. Did something happen?" he asked that made my ears perk in response at his query.

I could see him from the corner of my eye untying his mask and pushing his glasses upward like it became sort of a mannerism to him already.

"I don't want to talk about it…" I calmly said as I crossed my arms with a downcast look evident enough for him to notice then I felt a hand on my shoulder.

Seeing his gesture, he wasn't convinced with my response.

"It's almost my break. What do you say we get some sandwiches and maybe a cup of coffee to go along with it? My treat," he urged and being left with no other choice, I just agreed with his offer.

Besides, I really need some sort of diversion right now.

* * *

 **At Mobius General Hospital's Cafeteria.**

* * *

 **(Shadow's POV)**

* * *

The cafeteria wasn't as lively as it was during mornings and the majority of the people I see here are mostly medical staffs on break.

I felt like I've completely spaced out as I continued munching on my clubhouse sandwich that I've grown to love just to fill my grumbling stomach that's almost close into chewing my stomach walls.

' _Damn, this was the best thing I've ever had for this day.'_

In fact, I haven't realized how hungry I was until now after all of the stress back in the Emergency Department.

Another one of the most common first world problems for us doctors besides getting a good night's sleep is getting a nice and scrumptious meal during lunch breaks. These are one of the rarest moments while on duty. Even taking a bite from a sandwich has always been a challenge because you'll never know when you're going to get paged.

Right now, I bet my Uncle is treasuring this short 'sandwich and coffee break' to the fullest before he gets back to his duties again. Being someone in charge of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit,

I could still recall when I was just completing my residency in this hospital. I had pasta for my lunch but before I could even savor every bite on that tasty meal, I got paged in one of the wards to attend a patient that's having a seizure. I had no choice but to leave that meal behind just so I could resume with my duties.

Once the situation was handled, my stomach already forgot it was hungry which is why I grew a certain fascination in studying medically-related subjects. It's really amazing how the organs inside our system work together as a team to find ways to control a certain imbalance inside our bodies.

Like for instance, controlling a drop in blood glucose or in a medical perspective, blood sugar, whenever we miss a meal. It's a well-known fact that our brains are critically dependent on glucose and just a sudden drop of blood glucose levels in the blood stream could make us lose our concentration, irritable, dizzy, and even to the point where we would entirely lose our consciousness.

But the brain is indeed a smart organ as it would quickly send signals to several organs of the body; informing them that the body is in dire need of energy, and thus, glucose counter-regulatory hormones are released in order to compensate for that decreased glucose level.

That's why our hunger becomes temporarily satiated after not being able to take a meal for a long period of time.

Anatomy and Physiology is truly an amazing subject to tackle and it's surprising as well how our body works the same way as we handle things during an emergency situations.

"My brother interfered again, didn't he?" my uncle spoke that broke my trail of thought as though he already knew what happened just a while ago.

I simply nodded in response as I finished my sandwich before gulping the nice warm latte that completely refreshed my throat.

"Figures…That's really typical of him," he added that somewhat pulled my attention back at him. "You know your father, he's always been called the 'beast' in the Cardiology department because of his fierceness. I'm really sorry that you had to go through that."

"It's not mainly about him, though." I took a deep breath to compose myself then those memories began to resurface in my mind.

"I…I just killed a man today…" I was hesitant but the words still made their way out of me like it just slipped through my lips. "My patient had undergone Cardiac Arrest and I wasn't able to save him. I swear I could have saved him but I was foolish for letting him go the moment father interrupted. I should have fought harder."

Pain and regret filled me again that it's starting to become uncomfortable enough for me to bear and yet here I am still trying my best to be strong in all of these.

I saw my uncle looking at me with a very surprised look on his face but it didn't last long when his expression began to soften like he finally understood my grief.

"I see," he leaned forward just to take a good look in my eyes that are now starting to get glossy from the tears that are fighting to be shed. "It must have been a tough decision to make."

"Yes, it truly was…the toughest decision I've ever made. To be honest, I was foolish as well to make a promise that I'd bring my patient back alive…Now I can't get them out of my mind. It's haunting me."

My uncle's once bright aura suddenly became a bit gloomy hearing my words.

"Sometimes, in order to save a life, we have to take one," he calmly spoke as he took his glasses and began wiping it with a cloth that he had been keeping in his pocket.

"I remember a few years ago when I was on duty in the delivery room. A pregnant woman was rushed in after meeting a Motor-Vehicular accident and is in a critical condition. However, due to the large volume of blood lost, both the mother and the baby had no chance of surviving unless we sacrifice one of them. That time, the mother was unconscious and there were no relatives of the patient present so the critical decision was left to us…Who would we save, the mother or the baby? Reminds you so much of TV dramas, huh?" he chuckled but I could hint that he only did that to conceal his grief. Perhaps he still hasn't forgotten the choice he made during that time.

"I never knew. I'm sorry that you had to go through that, too." His story struck me in the chest off-guarded. In fact, I didn't expect that my uncle, who appears to be problem-free, carried a burden as great as mine all along and yet, he still chose to smile like every day is a good day.

How he is able to do that is way beyond me.

"If you don't mind my asking…How did you choose between them?" I suddenly felt the urge to ask despite the guilt.

My uncle fell silent for a few moments before he found the strength to speak again.

"The principle of ethics states that the baby never takes precedence over the mother. The mother's life is _**always**_ a priority so…it wasn't an option to begin with and I am truly against it especially since it involves letting go of an innocent life like that. However, if I've allowed my feelings to govern the situation, I won't be able to save any of them at all…so in the end, I've accepted the harsh reality and saved the mother by terminating her pregnancy. The moment she woke up and recovered, she was really enraged with the decision while her husband thanked me for saving his wife. It was a loss and a gain at the same time but it was the gravest decision I've ever made. I wasn't able to sleep for months after that since the memory always haunts me. That's why…I learned that we should never allow our feelings to take over us during emergency situations."

Upon hearing my uncle's story, I felt some burdens in my chest lightening up a bit. Right now, I'm beginning to understand why we should never involve our emotions in emergency situations.

My uncle took a deep breath and wore his eyeglasses back. This time, his expression is filled with optimism.

"But look on the bright side: things always happen for a reason no matter how dire it is. That same woman came back to me a few months later and guess what? She gave birth to a very healthy baby boy and she has forgiven me for what I did and even thanked me for giving her a second chance in life. You see, sometimes, things happen in our lives to teach us a valuable lesson about living. Experience is the best teacher, after all."

I saw him giving me an encouraging smile. "People expect a lot from doctors while forgetting to realize that they're mere mortals who also make mistakes…We may know diseases, drugs, medical procedures and microbes by the book but despite all of that knowledge we possess, there will always be room for failures and errors. We can't avoid it."

He took his sandwich from his plate and finished in just a few bites like he already got used to eating his meals as fast as he could.

"Keep this in mind: Just because you failed, that does not mean that you have entirely lost the battle. You came to the battlefield completely prepared and armed inside here," he tapped a finger at the side of my head as though pertaining to my brain. "You're a soldier and this hospital is a battlefield. In order to survive, you have to keep on fighting."

With that, he finished his cup of latte and stood from his seat. "For now, I want you to go home and get some sleep. You seem really exhausted physically and mentally."

He patted me gently on the shoulder and made his way out of the cafeteria, leaving me once again all by myself.

I sighed at his words of advice and began to ponder with my own personal feelings. Right now, I couldn't deny that my chest still ached like it was bruised coupled with some sharp and stinging pain every time I was reminded of my patient's death. Not only that, the thought only made me sink further into the ground as I was reminded of the sorrowful look on that bat girl's face and the disappointed look in my father's eyes when I struggled to keep my patient alive.

Despite some people around doing their best to console me in my most vulnerable state, I couldn't help but still feel like I am at odds with myself whether I would take their advice or leave it but the former seem more promising than the latter. Besides, who am I to turn down an advice from the ones that I've always looked up to my whole life?

Truth to be told, I've always been impressed with the way my Uncle handles things in his department more than my father. However, I am still not certain with what kind of specialty I would pursue later on but I'm quite sure that my father would urge me to consider Cardiology as my first option.

There's no doubt about it.

Following my uncle's advice, I finally decided to make my way out of the hospital grounds while doing my best to forget that horrid memory.

As soon as I made my way out, I felt somehow refreshed in an odd kind of way the moment I inhaled the fresh, cold evening breeze. I guess the smell of the disinfectant they use on the hospital grounds really got into my system too much that only contributed to my stressors.

Looking up, I noticed that the sky appeared cloudy as usual and the stars were barely visible. I also couldn't help but take notice of the leaves already turning brown. I guess autumn is on its way and the wind is starting to become chilly compared before. It amazes me how time really flies whenever I'm inside the hospital. Last time I was aware of the season, I could have sworn it was still summer.

Just as I was about to reach the hospital's parking lot, I caught a glimpse of a familiar snow-furred bat girl sitting all alone on one of the benches outside the hospital

Strangely enough, I could have sworn that a male brown bat was with her when she walked out from the Emergency Department.

 _Where was that bat anyway?_

Her solitude only made me more curious.

Taking a few steps forward to get a good glimpse at her, I noticed that her eyes were still brimming with tears and not only that, she also had a strange red mark on her muzzles that wasn't there before she approached me a few moments ago.

Curious at her current state while still feeling a bit guilty after what happened during that code, I am at odds whether I should approach her or not but it didn't take too long for me to decide when I found myself blindly going towards her direction. It seems that the instinct to be there when someone's in need, be it physically, psychologically or emotionally, has literally kicked in.

I guess this is one of the perks of being a doctor after all. We could literally sense someone's distress in all forms.

I decided to call her attention through verbal means. "Miss?" I calmly spoke and to my surprise, it caught her attention immediately. As soon as her gaze met mine, she quickly wiped her tears with the back of her palm and seeing that I was also distracted at the mark, she quickly placed a hand on it so as to cover it from my sight.

' _Strange…I wonder what happened to her.'_

Seeing that as a cue, I took a handkerchief from my pocket and handed it to her.

"Here, take this," I insisted and she just looked at me like I just told her something crazy. "It's the least I could do…" I added.

"I don't need it…" Her voice was calm but I could sense her bitterness seeping from her words as she slightly fidgets from her seat. That's when I noticed that her right knee was badly scraped with minimum amounts of blood mixed with some dirt and gravel in it.

From her gesture alone, I could tell she's having an uncomfortable stinging pain on her wounded knee that needs medical attention before it gets infected.

I was about to speak when she halted me by giving me a piercing glare. "Look, if you're going to use your 'therapeutic skills' to comfort me after what happened then sad to say, it won't work, so please just leave me alone."

"Your knee," I said, changing the subject. "What happened?"

To my surprise, she just stood without answering and started to walk away from me but I quickly stopped her by grabbing her hand.

"Wait," I called out and all I got was a piercing glare from her.

"Aren't you in pain?" I pointed at her knee. Her eyes widened in surprise but that didn't last long when it immediately got replaced with her piercing glare as she shook her hand off of my grasp.

"It's nothing and I don't need your help," she responded while avoiding my gaze as though hiding something from me.

I sighed at her stubborn remark but I didn't let that stop me from trying to get past through her barriers. To top it all that, the red mark on her face and her wounded knee has completely caught my attention and it's not something that should just be ignored.

"I completely understand if you still haven't forgiven me after what happened but at least let me take care of that wound," I responded. "Otherwise, it might get infected."

She crossed her arms at me as her frown never left her face. "Well, what are the odds of that? It was just a scrape. How could that be infected?" she said in a matter-of-fact tone; probably wishing that we would end this conversation right here, right now.

"Risk factors of wound infections are highly depended on the environment, the immune system and of course, the depth of the wound. You clearly have a contaminated wound that would create a perfect opportunity for microorganisms to colonize and the wound that you have acquired appears to be deeper than a mere scrape. Not only that, being in the stage of grief, your body releases more stress hormones than usual and those hormones could alter the functionality of your immune system. So yes, you are obviously susceptible to infection."

Her expression hinted confusion at my explanation from the way her brows raised as her mouth gaped in response. I guess I overdid my explanation a bit.

 _Chaos, I have to be aware of the medical jargons coming out of my mouth._

"You're kidding, right?" she gave me a doubtful gaze.

Truth to be told, I did exaggerated a little bit about the immune system. I didn't know why I did it but I guess it was my instinct talking and not me. True, our immunity is slightly compromised when stress hormones are released but not to the point that we would be highly at risk with wound infections unless, of course, if we're immunocompromised or taking immunosuppressant drugs.

I immediately shook my head to conceal that bluff but she didn't seem to take it lightly when I noticed her brows furrowing in response to my gesture.

"Who cares?! Just leave me be! Besides, you couldn't even save my father. What makes you think I'd trust you enough to let you treat my wounds?"

Her words left me speechless and petrified like it had struck the 'shut down' button inside my brain. I felt my blood leaving my head completely that if I haven't snapped back into reality, I would have already fallen down by now.

"That is why…" I swallowed hard, "I wanted to atone for that grave mistake I did."

She had a pained expression drawn all over her face upon hearing me say that. I could hint that she's becoming more frustrated at my attempts in convincing her to warm up to me.

"Apologies and treating my wounds won't bring my father back, doctor."

Using all of her strength, she harshly shoved me out of her way and quickly walked away without turning back; leaving me baffled in solitude.

Obviously, she's still blaming me for what happened and it only drove my defense mechanism wild as though my brain sensed her gesture threatening my pride.

I suddenly had the strong urge to explain myself to her once more but I did my best to control it. Convincing myself that doing so would only lead to nothing but adding more insult to the injury.

I couldn't blame her for hating me. I did promised her that I'd save her father only to break it in the end.

Like my uncle said, experience is truly a best teacher.

My gaze followed her as she made her way back inside the hospital.

Seeing that there was nothing else that I could do, I just walked in an opposite direction and made my way towards my car.

Deep down, I'm feeling a sense of guilt haunting me despite Head Nurse Lara Le and my Uncle's encouraging words. I guess the burden of being responsible for someone's death is really something that would cling to you for the rest of your life.

The pros and cons of being a doctor. People would respect you for your medical degree and title, at the same time, people would despise you for not meeting their expectations.

Living is truly a wonderful and complicated experience.

I rode my car, started the engine and drove my way home as fast as I could like the world didn't matter anymore and as soon as I got home, the first thing that came into my mind is lying down on my bed to get some sleep but not before checking my voicemail to see who called me while I'm away.

It's not like I got a lot of messages especially with my very few circle of friends. Even joining the social media is truly a waste of time for me.

Truth to be told, being in a large group of people is exhausting for me that's why I would always find time to recharge myself in solitude. I guess living alone gave me such an opportunity to enjoy that privilege.

I wasn't the dating type, to be honest.

In fact, I have been introduced by my seniors to some of their female friends at work, their daughters and even to some acquaintances they met through the internet but none of them really interested me, to be honest.

I guess I'm going to live alone for the rest of my life if I value this solitude too much but I have no complaints. I'm actually pleased with it.

'You have 2 messages' the machine beeped and allowed the messages to run in the background as I got ready for bed.

"Hey buddy, it's Sonic. Listen, if you're free this Sunday, how about a little get-together with the guys? I already invited my brother, Manic, Knuckles and Tails to come along. The more the merrier, right? If you're up to it, give me a call, okay?"

 _Heh, typical Sonic. I'm quite sure he already found out what happened and I'm going to have to blame how paper-thin the hospital walls are for that news to spread so easily._

Sonic and I have been best friends ever since we were only in pre-school. We've always done things together and have been in similar schools when we were in elementary school, high school, college, and even after getting both our Medical Degrees.

We were troublemakers but still managed to survive the academic life without tainting much of our records and it seems that the constant detention we always get got scratched away in our records thanks to our parents.

Like me, Sonic just finished his residency and is currently in a dilemma on which specialty to pursue but I have a strong feeling that he might consider being a general practitioner for the meantime without picking any specialty at all.

Besides, he had always been an open-minded and free-spirited hedgehog and being restricted with a specific specialty would possibly exhaust him.

Sonic and I had this strange and incredible bond of friendship that no matter where we go, we always find each other doing the same thing as a team.

It won't be long before we start teaming up and developing our own medical team like both of our fathers did.

Dr. Jules, Sonic's father, who is also my father's best friend, have been working together in a team performing successful cardiothoracic operations in Mobius General Hospital for years along with Knuckles' father, Dr. Locke, and the clinical perfusion scientist, Mrs. Rosemary Prower, Tails' mother.

Dr. Jules specializes in Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, a subspecialty in anesthesiology responsible for cardiothoracic perioperative care, development of an anesthetic plan when a patient undergoes a cardiothoracic surgical procedure, and the administration of anesthetics.

Dr. Locke specializes in Internal Medicine, a specialization that covers a wide range of medical conditions and is also responsible for the prevention, diagnosis and management of diseases, particularly in adults.

Mrs. Prower is a clinical perfusion scientist who is responsible in managing the physiological and metabolic demands of patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Her expertise mainly includes handling highly technical machines and devices to ensure that the patient's oxygen supply is not disrupted during the surgical procedure.

They're an incredible and legendary open heart surgery team that drastically increased the hospital's popularity tenfold and someday, we would follow in their footsteps.

The machine beeped again.

"Shadow honey, it's your mother. How are you doing? Are you taking care of yourself? Have you been eating well? I know how stressful it must have been working in a hospital and well, the reason that I called is to remind you about our family dinner this coming Friday. Oh, remind your father, too. See you there, honey."

The message ended with another beep.

'You have no more messages'

Two invitations in one day. I guess I won't be able to cherish my off days from work after all.

After drinking a nice glass of water and putting on some relaxing music, I went straight to bed, completely forgetting what happened today.

It's what they all say: Tomorrow is another day.

* * *

 **8:30 am at Mobius General Hospital**

* * *

 **(Shadow's POV)**

* * *

"You can't be serious, father!" My body shook in shock as soon as I heard that I have been assigned to perform a cardiac surgery today.

Specifically, a Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery or oftentimes referred to as CABG by senior doctors.

A Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery is a surgical procedure where we create a new pathway around a blocked blood vessel in order to establish an adequate blood flow to the heart muscle. It's quite a tough procedure but not as complicated as a transplant surgery. In fact, it is a common surgical procedure done by Cardiac surgeons.

My father, being the head of that department and working with a team that specializes in cardiac surgery, has already got his hands on a lot of people enough for him to do the procedure literally with his eyes closed. That's why, working under his supervision is no doubt truly an exhausting and stressful experience.

"I am serious. This time, you would demonstrate your surgical prowess to me. I want to know how much you've learned. Now, scrub up," he said as he simply commanded in his usual scowl and prepared for surgery.

I stood there petrified on the ground not because of being assigned to do a surgical procedure since this wasn't the first, but because of the team that I would be performing that surgery with: My father's Open Heart Surgery Team.

This, I could say, is my first time working with my father's team and it's already killing me inside from the unimaginable stress that's currently suffocating me inside and out.

To make things more complicated, he assigned me to become his 'First Surgical Assistant.'

Being First Surgical Assistant, my role is to work closely with the head surgeon and assisting him/her all throughout the procedure. I am responsible for positioning, maintaining the surgeon's field of view, harvesting surgical grafts, making sure the patient is having an adequate blood supply, closing the incisions and dressing up the surgical wounds.

To put it simply, I'm working under my father's direct supervision.

 _Chaos, this is going to be one tough surgery to perform._

I did my best to shrug off my worries and tried focusing myself on the matter before me and that is, obeying my father's orders and scrubbing up for surgery.

As I was performing the surgical hand scrubbing procedure, my heart furiously pounded inside my chest.

 _What if the procedure won't go well? What if my father humiliates me in front of his surgical team? What if the patient died during the procedure? Oh chaos, I can't do this…Chaos, Chaos, Chaos…_

"It's nice to know that you'd be operating with us, Shadow. Good luck," said Dr. Jules as he walked past me and made his way towards the operating theatre.

Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, it was Dr. Locke's.

"Good luck," he simply said and I just acknowledged his words with a nod.

As soon as I'm done with the hand scrubbing, I went inside and allowed the scrub nurses to assist me in gowning and gloving.

Being in the operating theatre, the rule of sterility is quite strict.

We must keep our hands above the waist level at all times, we must not touch unsterile objects and the gowning and the gloving must be done with assistance, mainly by the scrub nurses on duty.

As soon as I'm finished with my preparation, my father came afterwards, already prepared with a fierce look on my direction.

"Grace under pressure, boy," he strictly said as he walked towards the operating table.

Being on the short side, I was often given a standing set in order to perform surgical operations with ease. Truth to be told, the operating table is indeed quite a bit high for me.

Walking a few steps towards the operating table, I felt myself becoming more pale than usual when I saw that my standing set is on the opposite side of where my father stood.

"Good luck," were the words that I often hear from my father's medical team as soon as I got close on that table and I could only nod in response.

 _Chaos, this is it…Break a leg, Shadow._

* * *

 **(Shadow's POV)**

Minutes have passed since the patient's chest cavity was cut opened and fully exposed by a rib spreader and here I am still tensing at the thought that I am performing this bypass surgery before my father.

I held the scalpel firmly as I make another incision in the heart's outer layer while my hands trembled at the fur-raising ocean-mimicking eyes staring daggers at me. My knees buckled that even my standing set began to shake.

"Shadow, keep your hands still or you might accidentally cut a vessel," he calmly called out to me sternly and I just responded by nodding my head as I did my best to fully incise the outer layer of the heart until it was clearly visible.

It's always fascinating to see an actual beating heart during a surgical procedure. The miracle of life truly is a marvelous thing.

"Starting to connect the patient's heart to the heart-lung bypass machine," father said as he asked for a specific equipment necessary to do the procedure.

The Heart-Lung bypass machine, which is mainly controlled and monitored by the clinical perfusion scientist, temporarily circulates the blood in the body when the heart is stopped since during cardiac surgeries, the hearts are usually stopped in order to perform the procedure efficiently.

As my father began connecting the tubes to the heart, I quickly did my best to maintain his field of vision clear by flushing some solution here and there at the same time, cauterizing some blood vessels and suctioning the blood that may pool around the chest cavity.

He wasn't complaining with my actions which made me feel a sense of relief. I guess things are going smoothly than I expected, which is really a good thing in my case.

I was astounded when my father had successfully connected the patient's heart to the heart-lung bypass machine in less than 20 minutes.

"As expected," Dr. Jules said as he chuckled while constantly monitoring the patient's vitals. "I knew you were always a beast, Darius. Both in the cardiac field and in the bedroom as your ex-girlfriend jokingly implied before."

As always, Dr. Jules love teasing my father every once in a while similar to how Sonic sometimes makes fun of me. I wouldn't doubt anymore that Sonic got his mischievous and humorous side from his father.

Although, his joke did make me feel a bit awkward inside especially when he referred to my father's intimate activities. It's not the issue of sex that bothered me, though, rather, it's the thought of my own father being the subject of it.

"Damn it, Jules. Why do you keep on betraying me like that?" he calmly said as though subtly riding along with Dr. Jules' jokes that only earned some more chuckles and giggles from the rest of the surgical team and as usual, my father maintained his calm and serious demeanor.

"I'm just speaking about the truth," he said in amusement that made my father roll his eyes at him.

"Watch your words. There's a minor here, doctor," joked one of the scrub nurses and I could easily hint that she was pertaining to me.

"Oh chaos, pretend that you didn't hear that, Shad," said Dr. Jules as he continued pressing some buttons and turning some knobs on the anesthesia machine.

"The damage has been done, Jules. Now my son is going to be scarred for life, all thanks to you," my father responded in his usual calm voice as he asked one of the nurses to hand him a Cardioplegic solution to temporarily stop the patient's heart, thus, reducing cell damage to the heart muscles.

"What are you all bickering about? Shadow is already old enough to start his own family," said Mrs. Prower as she laughed which also made me chuckle a bit in response.

"And….she wins again," said Dr. Jules in defeat.

"Why am I not surprised?" my father uttered.

Right now, I am utterly confused at what I'm feeling right now. It seems that I have misjudged my father's team a lot. At first, I have the impression that they are such a serious group to work with. I was wrong with my assumptions all along.

"Plegia please," said my father and as soon as he injected the cardioplegic solution to the heart, it gradually slowed down until its beats became weaker and next thing we know, the monitors started to show a flat line reading.

"Let's cool it some more," he commanded and the scrub nurse handed him a container filled with a very cold solution and poured it on the chest cavity until therapeutic hypothermia is established.

The lingering sound of the flat line instantly reminded me of the patient that just died yesterday and I could have sworn that I felt my own breath quickening at that horrid memory.

My chest began to pound vehemently and my hands started to shake vigorously.

"Shadow," I heard my father's voice calling out to me and it immediately brought me back to reality. "Focus, boy! We need to move fast, time's running."

The moment he said that, I quickly shook my head and focused on the matter at hand by suctioning the area to maintain my father's field of vision.

I guess I'll just have to keep that memory away from me until the end of this procedure. Otherwise, I might lose it.

"Okay, pump on," he added and the patient's circulation was temporarily restored by having the heart-lung machine activated.

"Now that temporary circulation has been established, I want you to harvest a vein graft on the left internal thoracic artery, Shadow," he commanded.

I nodded in reply and quickly obeyed his orders in obtaining a vein graft using the section of the patient's own vein.

It took me a long time to harvest that specific vein. It wasn't simple but I was able to do so after a few minutes of trying.

I clamped the vein that I just harvested and presented it to my father for which he responded with widened eyes.

"Shadow," he called out my name.

"What is it, father? Is there something wrong?" I wondered seeing him surprised at the vein I just obtained made me tense up.

 _What the hell have I done now? Have I obtained a wrong vein?_

* * *

 **A/N: _And….we have a cliffhanger! Ahahha! Sorry for the super duper late update. It took me a long time to write this scene because I had to review the ethical issues involved on Terios' experience and I admit, writing a surgery scene is really challenging but I'm glad I was able to work it out. Hahah! Thank you guys so much for reading!_**

 _ **On a side note: Shadow's "standing set" was inspired with something SonadowStories and I have talked and joked about before regarding Shadow's height. Ahahha! So basically, Shadow can't perform surgery without it. XD**_


	4. Seeking Diversities

**Do No Harm Chapter 3**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, SEGA and Archie comics does. Sorry for the long update. Thank you so much guys for the support all throughout the chapters. You guys rock!**

* * *

 **(Shadow's POV)**

* * *

It felt like time has just stopped while I stood there frozen in my standing set while anticipating my father to start nagging at me right here, right now. I could feel everyone's eyes around me and the feeling is literally dragging me down into ground where I stand.

'What did I do? Why is everyone looking at me?' I wondered.

I could literally feel my heart racing like I've just ran a mile while my body continued to tense up from the anxiety I'm feeling right now.

' _I knew this is not going to turn out fine, I just knew it.'_

I mentally scolded myself for ever agreeing to participate in this surgery in the first place.

Until…

"Wow, that's a perfect looking vein graft!" I heard Uncle Jules exclaimed in his cheerful voice that completely surprised me. "Damn, your son must've been born with a scalpel on his hand, Darius. Look at how smooth that baby is."

His amazement astounds me. In fact, I wasn't expecting that I would acquire such a perfect-looking vein at all. I guess I could thank my vast medical knowledge for that factor.

"It sure is, doctor," said the scrub nurse beside me. "You've done a great job retrieving it."

I felt a huge sense of relief after hearing their encouragement. It's good to know that I am on the right track after all.

"See Darius, your son is truly talented in this field. It won't be long before he starts leading a team of his own," Uncle Jules continued to praise while his eyes focused on the anesthesia machine.

My father just maintained his indifferent look but I could tell from the look on his eyes that he was pleased with what I've done even if he didn't say a word. Instead, he simply took the vein I presented and initiated the bypass procedure.

"Commencing the bypass surgery," my father announced and the team quickly focused on the procedure at hand. "You see here, this artery is completely occluded," he said as he pointed an artery with a clamp for me to see, "We're going to make a pathway right over this side," he pointed on a spot just below the blocked artery while I nodded and continued suctioning the blood that's pooling around the cavity.

"Making an incision in the distal coronary artery," he took the scalpel and made a tiny opening on the part he mentioned while I kept my eyes open for blood pooling on the chest cavity. "Shadow, set up the vein graft you took and hold it still in the incision I made so I could begin the suturing."

I did what I was told and held the vein in place with some clamps as steady as I could while waiting for him to begin the procedure.

"8-0 thread please," he stretched a hand and the scrub nurse gave him a clamp with a surgical suture in it.

"Suturing now," he said and began suturing the vein graft into the site with ease. His hand movements were stable and flexible like most of the senior surgeons I've seen. It was impressive.

They say that the hand motions of the surgeon during surgery reflect their skill and level of expertise. It's no doubt that surgeons who often undergo a surgical procedure are skilled in handling a scalpel compared to those who rarely had the chance to be in the operating room.

Besides that factor, suturing a blood vessel is really a difficult procedure. A vein roughly has a size about 25 mm in diameter and the incision made by my father is around the size of a tip of a ballpoint pen which is why the head surgeons and the first surgical assistant have to wear a special kind of magnification device mounted in the lenses of glasses called a "loupe" in order to perform the procedure well. Just looking at how tiny the veins and those incisions were made me realize how thankful I am that these kind of glasses were invented.

I felt my hands getting tired and shaking a bit while holding the vein in place but I did my best to hold it in position until my father called my attention.

"Stay still, boy. We can't have too much tremor while performing a cardiac surgery. You must train your hands to be as still and as delicate like you're handling a fragile glass. The heart is a very fragile organ that's why we have strong rib cages to protect it," he explained while he continued suturing the vein in place.

The heart muscle pumps 70 milliliters of blood with every beat and it's constantly beating for a lifetime. On an average individual, it beats 40 million times a year. It was so ironic that the heart can be a fragile organ where in fact it's one of the strongest muscles in our body. Then again, we all have weaknesses somewhere deep down, just like the hard working muscle itself.

I just nodded in affirmation and did what he asked without any more protests just to get this procedure done.

"Take it easy on the boy, doctor, he's still learning," I heard Mrs. Prower spoke followed by a chuckle of amusement.

"Yeah, you heard the lady. Remember, he harvested a perfect graft. I must say the boy has potential in becoming a cardiac surgeon one day," added Uncle Jules that made my father grunt in response at his own team mates poking fun at his sternness.

"But your father's right, though. Don't treat cardiac surgery as how you would pamper yourself in your alone time," Dr. Jules added a joke that made my muzzles blush a heavy red.

' _Damn it, Uncle Jules. Not 'that' kind of pampering,_ ' I panicked at the thought.

In the medical field, dirty jokes aren't uncommon. Every now and then you would meet doctors or nurses blurting out one, like what's currently happening right now.

"Doctor, how crude! You're scaring the boy with your jokes," said a circulating nurse who's just around the corner replenishing some sterile fluids for future use.

"I'm just trying to lighten up the mood with a harmless little joke," Dr. Jules defended his side.

"Heh, harmless? Look how stiff the boy is right now, you goon," Dr. Locke chuckled.

Like Dr. Locke has implied, I literally froze in my spot and that absolutely helped in making me hold the clamps as still as possible. I guess it was an advantage after all to be made fun of like this once in a while.

"Nothing to be ashamed of, dear," said Mrs. Prower in a reassuring tone, "We're all medical professionals here."

I just sighed in defeat. These people won't stop making fun of me from time to time, as it seems, particularly my height and probably my age, too. I guess this is part of that 'seniority' thing that we juniors have to undergo through. I don't mind it much, though. Although, the jokes can be quite unnerving sometimes or maybe because I'm just not used to it yet.

All of my stressors seem to fade away after that and to be honest, Uncle Jules' humor was keeping the mood balanced in contrast with my father's strict and serious mood all the time.

"I did not recall ever saying those words," my father calmly contradicted Uncle Jules' statement that sent the whole team laughing in response.

"Always so serious, Darius," Dr. Jules replied in a tone of amusement.

"I'm currently suturing a very tiny blood vessel right now, Jules. I have every right to be serious," father responded back in his usual calm voice.

"Suturing or not, you're always wearing that scowl in your face like it was already glued in it. One reason why I could easily tell you and your twin brother, Terios, apart. That guy would laugh at any jokes no matter how bad they are," he jokingly implied and father simply ignored him.

"What would we do without Dr. Jules? He's good in making a stressful environment become stress free. Sometimes, a good humor is all that it takes to perform your work efficiently. You can't be serious all the time," said Dr. Locke, who seems to be in a corner with the circulating nurses.

"I hate to break it to you people but this is a surgical procedure. We aren't supposed to be talking too much at all! You're all making a sterile area non-sterile," father sternly called out to his team that rendered them all silent but from the look on their faces, they're more than amused than surprised at my father's sudden outburst. I guess I'm the only one who felt intimidated.

It's true, though. Based on most of the books I've read, sneezing, coughing and talking too much in a surgical field isn't ideal at all because sterile objects could become unsterile with prolonged exposure to airborne microorganisms. However, based on my experiences here in this hospital, you won't survive by merely learning by the book.

The surgery continued in silence. Despite the jokes blurted out here and there, the team still knew when to get serious. From the looks of it, it seems that they were only trying to help me and my father relax during a tough procedure by slipping in some humor. However, he didn't seem to appreciate it that much.

' _Heh, so typical of him…'_

With one last final stitch, my father finally finished the procedure with a sigh of contentment.

"Anastomosis completed," he announced and was rewarded with his team acknowledging both of our accomplishments.

"Well done, doctor," said most of the staff while the others praised about how I'm capable now to be handling complicated surgeries someday.

"You know, you two make a great team, Darius. Imagine that, father and son working together in cardiac surgeries. I would surely be proud if my boy, Sonic, is working alongside with me like you two were. The boy wanted to be a general practitioner, though," said Dr. Jules which was only rewarded with a huff from my father while I just rolled my eyes from that nonsensical info.

 _Me, teaming up with my father? Mobius General must be shutting down by now when that happens._

"Start graft perfusion, please," father said and I removed the clamp on the aorta so the circulation can be restored.

Mrs. Prower turned a knob and recirculated the patient's blood from the heart-lung machine to return to the patient's heart.

The heart can be restarted in two ways: One, the blood flow instantly washes away the Cardioplegia solution, the solution that temporarily stops the heart, when the circulation is reestablished, thus, the heart starts beating by itself and two, by delivering a mild shock directly using a manual internal defibrillator with small, circular paddles.

My father did the former and allowed the blood flow to restart the heart.

"Mrs. Prower, it's time to wean our patient from the heart-lung machine. Pump off."

Then the heart-lung machine was disconnected.

The sound of the flat line in the monitor was then exchanged with rhythm and hearing the sound of it eased some of my inner burdens away.

I sighed in relief at the sound of an active heart and at the success of the operation.

' _I guess there's nothing to worry about anymore…'_

I saw father staring down at the bypass graft he stitched as though examining it when all of the sudden, the monitors started beeping; indicating a complication with the patient's vitals.

"Pulse increased to 115!" yelled Dr. Jules all of a sudden that made me shoot a glance at him.

"Mean Pulmonary Artery Pressure (MPAP) is increasing to 35!" yelled Mrs. Prower that literally got me sinking in the ground.

"Pulse continuing to escalate, MPAP is now 40!" Dr. Jules continued to report.

The normal MPAP shouldn't exceed 18 mm Hg while the pulse is good when it's less than a hundred.

Judging from the current vitals, those aren't good numbers because that would put the patient's heart in a lot of distress which would later on result in heart failure. It's highly possible that there is a hindrance in the blood flow somewhere in the graft and the solution is to either administer some vasodilators, medications that could increase blood perfusion by dilating the blood vessels, or worse, repeating the surgery.

'Chaos, not again…Oh chaos, I certainly don't want to hear that flat line rhythm ever again…'

I panicked inside and I felt my legs trembling again on my standing set. I took the graft and whatever caused the distress in my patient makes me partially responsible for it.

 _Please let the patient be alright. I couldn't bear taking any more lives._

My hands shook vigorously as I anxiously watched the monitors while my father just stood there without even a hint of distress in him.

"Father, what should we do? Should we inject some vasodilators to dilate the blood vessel or should we repeat the procedure? However, re-doing the procedure would further stress the patient but if we prolong a situation like this, the likelihood for the patient to survive would be dreadfully low," I did my best to think of solutions to remedy the situation.

My father remained calm despite of my protests and merely stared at the heart with an indifferent look on his face.

"MPAP climbing up to 45!" yelled Ms. Prower.

"Pulse is climbing to 118," added Dr. Jules. "MPAP is now at 50! Pulse is 119!"

"Father?" I called his attention.

"Neither," he simply answered that made me stiff as a board, wondering to myself why he isn't alarmed at the situation at all.

"Neither?" I repeated, "The patient is in cardiac distress!" I protested but he simply asked for a syringe with a warm saline solution in it and started irrigating the graft.

"A saline solution?" I muttered to myself.

"MPAP is decreasing to 35, the pulse has also decreased to 110," called out Dr. Jules and in a few seconds, the monitors calmed down. "Patient is stabilizing now," Dr. Jules encouraged and the news regarding the patient's vitals made my eyes almost pop out from its sockets.

' _H-how could saline be the solution to that complication?'_ I kept asking myself.

My father took the syringe aside and stared at my direction with his usual indifferent gaze.

"Patients weaned off from the heart-lung machine usually experience complications such as this one. For this case, there's a tendency that a spasm has occurred on the graft making the blood vessel narrow, thus decreasing the blood flow. I know you're aware that a decrease in blood flow would force the heart to pump with all of its strength to compensate for that loss. Flushing it with a warm saline solution helps in controlling the spasms," father explained and I was bewildered at the little information he shared.

" _Spasms! Why didn't I think of that?!'_

I guess this proves that learning by the book is a lot different from learning by experience.

"As a surgeon, it is your duty to critically analyze the situation first before jumping into conclusions." The circulating nurse, took off the surgical loupe on my father's eyes then he took off his surgical gloves.

"Remember, surgery isn't a game. Every decision you make could either save or kill your patient. Keep that in mind," he continued while I just listened without saying a word.

' _There he goes again, nagging at my performance…'_

"I'll leave the chest reconstruction and closing to you," were his last words before leaving the sterile field while removing his mask and surgical gown along the way.

My gaze followed him as he made his way out of the operating room, still utterly confused whether he was dissatisfied with my performance or not.

"You've done a great job, Shadow. Your father may not be the praising-type but I could tell he was really impressed with your knowledge in suggesting ways in managing cardiac complications," praised Uncle Jules as he gave me a thumbs up sign.

"Yes, dearie. Usually, your father would stay all throughout the procedure or worse, shout at a staff or a surgical assistant to 'scrub out' whenever he's not satisfied with their performance," Mrs. Prower delightedly said. "Leaving the suturing and stapling to you means that he trusts your skills enough to carry on. I must say, you really have talent in handling a scalpel."

"I guess our boy here has just turned into a man," teased the scrub nurse again.

I just smiled despite the mask I wore and acknowledged their praises with a nod of appreciation.

' _I wasn't expecting that my father and his team are going to be pleased at all but I guess I am happily wrong to assume that it was the opposite.'_

"Closing the sternum," I announced and acquired some surgical staples from the nurse.

Usually, being the first surgical assistant, it is my responsibility to continue what the head surgeon left behind and that is mostly suturing.

I just sighed in defeat and began the chest reconstruction. Stapling the breast bone and suturing the surgical incision literally takes time considering the amount of tissue and skin layers that I have to stitch my way through but at least it gave me an opportunity to hone my surgical suturing skills.

It's going to be a long day.

* * *

 **(A few hours later)**

* * *

 **(Shadow's POV)**

* * *

The Doctor's Lounge, a place in the hospital where we could replenish our inner batteries.

I dropped myself in the couch inside the lounge and took out a small Rubik's cube in my pocket and began twisting and turning it to arrange the colors in their rightful places.

It has always been my hobby to jumble the colors and put them back together again to relieve some stress just as how my father loved squeezing his stress ball from time to time.

Sonic and I love a little challenge with this little block and we do it on a weekly basis. In fact, when we were still young, we often made bets that whoever failed to solve the Rubik's cube puzzle for the week had consequences afterwards such as diving in the pool in the middle of the night, walking barefoot with lego parts on the floor and so many crazy things.

After earning our medical degree and finishing our residency, the consequence was changed into working 2 night shift duties straight.

After I finished rearranging the colors, I placed the finished cube on the table and closed my eyes for a little bit. The recent surgery has somehow drained my energy especially when being done in front of my father.

I have to admit, his presence alone is enough to exhaust me like I just finished a 12 hour shift. There's something about his aura that makes the air around me feel heavier than it should be. I'm surprised his team hasn't felt anything like that at all, or is it just me?

Being a doctor, rest and sleep is a precious commodity that we desire. In a 12 hour shift, our brains become scrambled from the stress and pressure altogether. Right now, this is one of the rare moments when we could connect with ourselves rather than connecting the dots of the diseases of the people that we don't know.

I grabbed a chocolate bar from my pocket and took a bite on it to replenish my strength. This is probably the closest thing I could call my meal for this day. Who knows how long would I be able to grab another bite to eat for the rest of this shift?

As I was enjoying the chocolate bar, I got startled at the sound of the door opening from the doctor's lounge.

"Hey Shadow!" called out a very cheerful voice and I was met with a grinning blue furred hedgehog holding his white coat over his shoulder.

It was my best friend, Sonic and from the looks of it, he seems to be still full of energy. Perhaps the area he has been assigned to isn't as hectic as mine. Truth to be told, the operating room and the surgical ward are the most hectic ones in my opinion.

"Dear ol' pops told me that you were impressive in the bypass surgery. Kudos to you, buddy," he praised but I just gave him a barely visible smile.

"It's nothing…" I said; trying to evade the encouragement as always. I was never really fond with praise because for all of my life, I got used with my father often pointing out my flaws.

"Eh, don't act all modest. Having the opportunity to work with the 'aces' of the cardiac surgery team is quite a big achievement, you know? Especially with your father. Not a lot of doctors are able to keep up with him except his team. No offense but Uncle D is as pointy as the scalpel that he holds."

I just sighed and responded with an indifferent gaze. I never really like talking about my father especially when I am reminded of the time that he pulled me away from the scene when I was resuscitating my patient.

Until now, that blasted code still haunts me every now and then. No matter how I try to forget it, I couldn't get it out of my mind like it's permanently etched in my brain.

Then his daughter came into the picture and started to make things even more complicated. Her hate still burns me deep within inside like it's punishing me for not saving her father. I couldn't forget the way her teal eyes stared at me with so much pain and disappointment.

The death of her father in my hands is like an ugly wound that left a terrible scar in her past that not even reconstructive surgery could fix. The thought of it devastates me to some degree that I would just find myself staring blankly into space as I find ways in my mind to end my agony.

Most doctors would just try to ignore and bury their mistakes within their past but not me, I'm different. Once I made a mistake, I'm often driven the urge to fix it. I swear to Aurora that I would do my best to find a way to redeem myself.

"Hey, Mobius to Shadow, are you still with me?" Sonic interrupted my trail of thought that left me shaking my head to focus right back on the subject until the way he's carrying his white coat caught my attention once again.

"Yeah Sonic and aren't you reading the hospital guidelines in terms of proper uniform? We aren't supposed to wear our coats like that," I decided to change the subject instead by pointing out a minor violation regarding the white coat.

He just raised an eyebrow at me like I just told him to jump off a cliff before it was exchanged with a hearty laugh.

"Always so serious and evading the subject as always, but who cares? We're on the lounge." Sonic sat across me and crossed his legs as he allowed himself to sink on the couch while I just rolled my eyes at him and continued finishing my chocolate bar until he suddenly decided to interrupt again.

"Hey buddy?"

I shot a glance at him with a puzzled look. "The medical staff had been talking a lot about what happened at the ER yesterday."

I dodged his gaze at the sound of that and heaved a heavy sigh.

"Look, I'm not going to give you crap about it anymore and I'm not going to ask what happened either just to add more insult to the injury, rather, I just want to know how you're doing and how you're taking it."

I didn't answer and continued munching on my chocolate instead.

"Come on, don't hesitate to share your burdens with me, bud. Growing up together, going to the same school together, we're literally like family now, you know?" Sonic continued to offer a helping hand like he already knew how I was feeling after all of the things I've been through.

Sonic could literally read me like a book and hiding things from him isn't as easy as hiding a candy from a toddler. He knows there's something wrong and he's going to pester me in so many ways until I give up and open up to him.

"You really are persistent, aren't you?" I retorted in an unkind manner and yet, as expected, Sonic brushed that away like he usually does.

"Shadow, we've known each other for more than 20 years now or something and you're still asking me the same question over and over again," he laughed hysterically and gave me a playful hit on my shoulder.

I just grunted and rolled my eyes at him and he knew quite well that with that gesture, I'm ready to spill the beans.

"Fine. Truth to be told, I'm still a little distraught for what happened. In fact, I could feel myself gradually losing my drive to pursue…this career."

Sonic frowned after my remark and quickly snatched the chocolate bar from my hands. "Take that back or I'll throw this meal of yours!" he threatened as he raised it high in the air to aim for the trash bin just beside the couches.

I love that chocolate bar and to top it all that, my whole energy for this shift relies in it so I had no choice but to resort to force.

"You 'do' realize that my whole meal depends on that chocolate!" I yelled at him and attempted to take it back but his reflexes were quick enough to avoid me.

"Oh no you don't!" he pushed me away with his free hand and scooted a few feet away from where I stood. "I'll give this back in one condition. Take back what you said about ending your career!"

I froze in my spot. As much as I hate crushing my pride, time is running during these break hours so I was left with no other choice.

"Fine! I take it all back. I'm staying! Now would you kindly give that back, please?" I said through gritting teeth and my prayers were instantly answered when he immediately complied.

"I knew you would stay," he teased and I just grunted in annoyance and finished what's left of my 'meal' for the day so he wouldn't find any more things to threaten me with for the day.

"Putting that aside, you still haven't responded to the message I left you yet," he reminded, "Still waiting for an RSVP, you know?"

I crumpled the wrapper of the chocolate bar and threw it on a nearby trash bin before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Perhaps…the usual place, right?"

"Yeah, the one and only. We'll be at Club Icarus around 7 o' clock in the evening. Don't worry, we'll take it easy on the alcohol," he said happily but I just gave him an unsure look.

"I can't promise anything, though but I'll see if I could drop by. You know our schedule, it's often unpredictable," I responded and to my surprise, he didn't give me a displeased look like he usually does whenever I subtly decline an invitation or whenever I give him an unsure response, rather, it was an understanding one.

"Well, I could totally sympathize with you on that," Sonic's tone of consideration astounded me. "Three days ago, the hospital literally paged me to come here to take care of four cases of dehydration secondary to food poisoning despite of my rest day. I guess I could say that we've got ourselves trapped in this joint. I mean literally bound in chains with this thing," he took his pager out and raised it before me. "This damn device is going to ruin our social lives," he joked.

The hospital pager. It's always a 'must' to carry it at all times along with your personal mobile phone in case the hospital needs your assistance.

I chuckled and crossed my arms. "Welcome to the Field of Medicine where social life becomes an expensive commodity. My question is: can you afford it?"

"Very funny," he said sarcastically, "I guess that favors you a lot, huh? Knowing you, I have a huge feeling you wouldn't even spend a coin let alone a dollar," he teased but his statement instantly made me frown.

"Shut up, Sonic."

He just laughed and leaned forward from his seat. "Whatever you say, Shad." He took the Rubik's cube that I placed on the coffee table and stared at it with widened eyes.

"Woah, you finished it already?! How long did it take for you to solve this one this time?" he asked in bewilderment.

"About 1 minute and 44 seconds," I calmly replied; still feeling a little bit down for not beating the record of solving the puzzle in less than 60 seconds.

"Damn it, Shadow! Now I'm doing 2 graveyard shifts again for this week," he whined and I responded with a victorious smirk.

In this case, Sonic better prepare himself because when it comes to this puzzle, I'm almost unbeatable.

"It's not my fault. You're the one who proposed such a preposterous agreement. No backing out, remember?" I slyly retorted.

"Fine but we have to change that bet into something else soon. Working night shift duties are taking a toll on me especially at the geriatric wards. Most of the elderly patients keep waking up in the middle of the night to wander around the corridors asking for milk and tea while some are carrying their own luggage because they wanted to go home."

I chuckled at his complains. "Be my guest," I simply responded.

Truth to be told, elderly patients tend to have such episodes because of a condition called "Dementia" wherein the brain's cognitive function starts to decline; affecting a person's memory, decision-making skills, and so on.

Most patients with this condition undergo behavioral changes and commonly demonstrate child-like behaviors. The Geriatric wards may be perceived as challenging but it's not as hectic as handling patients in the surgical ward.

Sonic sighed and studied the cube with keen eyes.

"You know, I was never really fond of seeing this cube with all of the colors in their rightful places. It may be pleasant to the eyes but it seems sort of dull."

He started twisting and shuffling the movable parts, scattering the colors all around the cube.

"Just like our lives here. We need to get out of our comfort zone every once in a while," he advised. "Despite the busy schedule and the lack of time we have to make new friends, date some girls, or perhaps explore the world, we still need to make a couple of diversities in our lives in order to enjoy it. Being doctors taught us a lot about how life would sometimes be taken from us in unpredictable ways. We should make the most of our lives while we still can."

He placed the Rubik's cube back to where I left it. Now completely scrambled.

I sighed in amusement at Sonic's sudden philosophical advice. It was amusing to think that he would say such words all of a sudden.

"How many cups of coffee did you drink?" I jokingly asked, feeling a bit strange at the sound of his choice of words because it was so unlike him.

"I haven't had any cups of latte' yet and...Wait a minute, what's that supposed to mean? Are you saying that I need to be high or something in order to deliver such an advice?" he gave me a look of disbelief but I could tell he was just faking it.

"Maybe," I simply said, trying my best to maintain a serious and indifferent look but I failed when a smirk crept on the corner of my lips.

"Geez, Shad. That's a little bit too harsh," he snapped at me.

I was about to spat back at him when…

"Doctor Shadow T. Hedgehog, please proceed to exam room number five, please. Doctor Shadow T. Hedgehog, please proceed to exam room number five, please," said the hospital announcer.

 _Great, I'm paged to do some diagnostic work._

"What goes around, comes back around," Sonic joked in a sing-song voice while I just rolled my eyes at him and gave a chuckle of amusement.

"You win this time," I stretched my back muscles and pulled myself to stand; disregarding the fact that a few minutes or even just a few seconds of rest has just been disrupted.

"7pm at Club Icarus. Don't forget, Shad," he reminded once more before I left the doctor's lounge to proceed to the diagnostic examination room.

Diagnostic work is quite a complex task. A few things about diagnostic work that makes it a challenging field is identifying the patients' disease by being able to connect the dots of their signs and symptoms.

It's just like playing detective with diseases as your prime suspects while relying on the signs and symptoms that serves as clues that they've left behind.

* * *

 **(Examination Room Number 5)**

 **(Shadow's POV)**

* * *

"My head has been aching a lot lately and I have been forgetting things a lot. Yesterday I forgot where I placed my car keys and this morning, I almost forgot to lock the front door," the male mobian rabbit rubbed his temples with a very disgruntled look on his face as he sat on the examination table.

I couldn't even recall how many times I've seen this same patient already during my diagnostic work. He has been coming back to this hospital a lot of times with barely a week as an interval.

On his last visit, he claimed that he has a heart attack for having chest pains. A few weeks before that, he claimed he has a colorectal cancer because his bowel movements had changed.

He's a Customer Service Representative (CSR) in a telecommunications company and sometimes work in a graveyard shift.

Based on the symptoms he mentioned, it's more likely that he's just suffering from a lack of adequate sleep and nothing more.

"Have you been getting any sleep, sir?" I asked and he quickly nodded in reply.

"It's not about sleep, doctor. I have a feeling that I may have…." He lowers his voice, "A brain tumor…especially at this part of my head because it hurts a lot," he pointed the leftmost part of his head.

His reaction almost made me jump up from my seat.

It's not uncommon to encounter patients like this one. We term these people as 'hypochondriacs' or physically healthy patients that believe that they have a life-threatening disease with no underlying medical basis except the signs and symptoms that they experience.

Some doctors find these patients funny while some find them difficult and annoying. For me, I am more on the neutral side. In fact, I'm doing my best to help him as much as I could by explaining to him the nature of his condition in any possible way as I could.

Some methods work while some don't, though. Mostly the session with him ends up with me giving him a trip to do some lab works to confirm his condition.

He will never believe that he's cured, but one thing's for certain: he's an individual of sound health and there's nothing that he should be worried about much except getting an adequate amount of sleep.

Time passes by so fast when doing some diagnostic work and I didn't even realize how long have I been in here and how many patients I have taken care of already.

Until one brown female mobian echidna caught my attention with her chief complaint.

"I'm getting tired easily, doctor. Tired enough that I'm not able to do my daily activities anymore," she said in an apprehensive tone.

"Do you suspect that you might be pregnant, Ms. Echidna?" I asked while staring at her bio data. She may be single but there are possibilities that a woman at her age could be a bit adventurous especially when she's in her early 20's.

"N-no, I don't think so, doctor," she promptly denied that made me a little bit suspicious. It's either she's hiding her pregnancy or she felt embarrassed being asked about it. Regardless of that, I'm ordering a pregnancy test in her lab works just to confirm.

"Any other symptoms that you are experiencing besides that?"

"Well...I did notice that I'm having chest pains and difficulty in breathing especially when I'm doing my work outs. A few weeks ago, I fainted while I was doing my morning jogs. Not only that, sometimes, I notice that my migraines are getting worse as time went by."

I stood up from my seat from those alarming symptoms that may represent a cardiac problem and told her to unbutton a single button of her blouse so I could asses her heart sounds with my stethoscope.

The more I listen to her heart sounds, the more I notice that I'm hearing a barely audible murmur along the first and second heart sounds.

It wasn't a good sign. Not at all. She may have a heart valve issue that requires immediate medical attention.

* * *

 **A/N: Whew, Chapter 4 is finally done! :D Yey! Gosh, this is another tough chapter to write especially that surgery scene but I'm glad it turned out well. XD Took me a couple of revisions to get this chapter done. I hope you guys like this one. X3**

 _ **A mini father/son team work plus Sonic and Shadow bff moments XD It was fun writing their moments.**_

 **Thanks again to SonadowStories for helping me decide for that diagnosis scene. ^^ Ahahah! Couldn't have done this chapter without le help. ^_^**


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